Did anyone say “the Panama Canal”…?!

While entertaining a few options for my summer internship, I received an invitation from Dell Inc. to be interviewed for a position in Latin America. “Why not?”, I thought; it won’t hurt to hear what they have to offer. ..

I landed in Panama on June 22nd. Since it was my first time here, my expectations were a mix of the known and the unknown. I chose to come here due to several reasons but I was far from being able to know how many of them would materialize.

Today, four days before I will pack my things and head-back to the “Music Capital of the World” I feel it was a good choice. The combination of working on an interesting, multi-national project, living in a Spanish-speaking country and getting to know the people and culture of Panama, has been more than I could have asked for as a summer experience. Add to that a trip to Amsterdam, an amazing home-visit in Israel and a trip to a friend’s wedding in Mexico, and this summer can be called nothing but GREAT.

Panama isn’t as famous as some of its neighbors (Costa-Rica, Colombia and Guatemala). Nevertheless, it has a lot to offer, both from a business and a touristic point-of-view. It is becoming a hub for Latin America and a gateway for American Businesses. Having a significant US influence, Panama is more easily accessible than other countries in the region.

The touristic destinations here are awesome: Bocas del Toro (a Caribbean paradise) , the Taboga Island , the Grand Island (Isla Grande), the San-Blas Islands (populated by indigenous Indians), the Pearl Islands, and, of course: The Canal. All of us have heard about it, but the amazing thing is that, until I actually went to see it, I wasn’t aware of how it works.

At Dell, my project is basically done and was a great opportunity to expose myself to some of the challenges facing a global company in developing a market. Dell’s site in Panama is one of its biggest in the world and serves countries from Canada in the north to Argentina in the south. My project was approved for implementation and it is going to be exciting to hear that I was able to contribute to an improvement of Dell’s operations in the region.

Working in a Spanish-speaking country has obviously enabled me to significantly improve my Spanish and bring it to an advanced level. I have taken-on the challenge of convincing my colleagues that I am “worthy” of being spoken to in Spanish and, once that was achieved, I was able to manage meetings, conference calls and even presentations in Spanish. Now I will have the challenge of continuing my Spanish education: reading, speaking with my Spanish-speaking classmates and with my Colombian side of the family.

My summer internship has been a great combination of working in a global company and being exposed to a new business market. It would be interesting to see when, down the line, will this knowledge come-in handy. Now, though, I should make sure that going home will not be a challenge in-and-of itself. Tropical storm “Dean” has upgraded itself to a Hurricane category and is expected to cross my path home. We were told that summer internship may turn-out to be challenging, but I don’t remember that natural disasters were mentioned…


Island of Bastimentos



Bocas del Toro

Why am I writing this MBA blog?

Panama-City, Panama

I am sitting in the Istmo Brew Pub in Panama-city, with a cold Samuel Adams, thinking: “Why am I sitting in the Istmo Brew Pub in Panama-city, with a cold Samuel Adams?” Well, the truth is that I’ve wanted to do it for quite a while now. Not necessarily in this great but small pub in the center of Panama’s vibrant capital, but I’ve had the urge to sit down and write about my MBA experience since the beginning of the second semester of my first year. But, as you know very well, the things that we want to do but don’t have to do oftentimes get postponed. My summer internship with Dell Inc. in Panama, a great experience in-and-of itself, has allowed me, among other things, the time to do some of those things that I wanted to do but never had the time (more on that in later posts).


OK, so now I have some time on my hands – why invest it in writing about my MBA? I have never written anything “public” in my life and it seems a little odd that the urge to write about this experience has popped-up from nowhere. Even though I don’t have a complete answer to my own question, I think I can say that this experience has been a unique one for me, but even more than that, it has been unique in general. Being the only Israeli MBA student in the McCombs School of Business (University of Texas at Austin) I feel that I can share my experiences and thoughts with all readers while contributing to the knowledge of Israeli MBA candidates about our program in Austin. Since the only Israeli candidate who was admitted to next year’s class has deferred until next year, it seems that my status will stay valid through-out my MBA studies.


Israel has always contributed a significant per-capita number of MBA students in US and European programs. Israelis, in general, are self-driven, entrepreneurial and business-oriented. In addition, many of us find it useful to travel the world and then go back to Israel after acquiring international experience and having a little time off our Israeli scene, which gets a little intense from time to time. Over the years, Israeli candidates have preferred the US coastal cities as their MBA destinations. It has to do with large Israeli communities in those cities, the perceived business opportunities that those cities offer and so forth. After going through my first year as an MBA student in Austin I feel that both the city of Austin and the MBA program at the University of Texas have A LOT to offer. This goes for everyone who’s looking for a great combination of a program with an entrepreneurial spirit that is strong in several areas of business administration, and a city that is everything one can look for: fun, open-minded, outdoors-oriented and includes both great business opportunities and a spirit for the arts (especially music), that makes it a great place to live in.


So, going-back to my own question, I feel that there is this undiscovered jewel, located in the heart of the largest state in the US and I would like to tell people about it. I hope you will enjoy reading about it….before trying-it-out for yourselves!